Former family court mediator, Emily Gallup has won a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Nevada County Superior Court . After three full days of deliberation, a Sacramento jury voted this morning that the court was guilty of retaliating against Ms. Gallup, and she was awarded $313,206 in total; $40,000 for pain and suffering and the remainder for lost wages and future income.
click to hear Emily Gallup
Nevada County Superior Court terminated Gallup in December 2010. Gallup’s lawsuit claimed that family court mediators were making recommendations about child custody without reviewing court files,or checking criminal backgrounds.
click to hear Emily Gallup
Gallup says she discussed her compliance concerns with her supervisors, and ” was essentially ordered to be quiet and do what she was told,”
Nevada County Superior Court Executive Officer Sean Metroka sat in on the 4 week trial in Sacramento.
click to hear Sean Metroka
Metroka said he was not sure if the settlement would come out of the Nevada County Courts budget , or the State Administrative Office of the Courts budget, if the award is paid to the plaintiff.
Ctr for Judicial Excellence
No doubt the Nevada County Family Court will appeal this- this historic verdict sets such a dangerous precedent for them and for the California Judicial System, and this court somehow ALWAYS manages to avoid paying anything for their illegal activity. Just like they figured out a way to get the arbitrator's favorable decision for Emily vacated earlier in her journey, they will no doubt fight this to try to stick it to Emily once again.
Emily Gallup's professional experience gives enormous credence to the thousands of devastating reports we hear each year about family courts routinely ripping children away from their safe, protective parent and placing them instead with the parent with "issues" ranging from raping, molesting and beating the children to endangering them with their active addictions. Until we institute some sort of meaningful oversight and accountability for family courts, or we limit the profiteering that goes on in these cases, we will continue to see horrific outcomes that result in a huge fiscal burden on taxpayers.
Family courts are in essence actively developing an entire generation of young people who will grow up to be violent felons (ie prison inmates, how much does that cost us?), drug addicts (more $$ for treatment) and unemployable adults (welfare, GAU, etc). Children are being "judicially trafficked" to the parent with more money, who is typically the one with more problems, so that the court appointees can continue to feed at the trough of these moneymaking cases.
The truth will always out... sooner or later. We need more heroes like Emily Gallup, so that we can save children's lives, protect their health and safety, and prevent them from becoming a permanent drain on society for decades to come.
And to think that the California Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) tried to tell us just a few short years ago that we were whining about "a handful of disgruntled litigants." You wait and see, and mark our words, the family courts are the scene of the very next big child abuse scandal- first we had the Catholic Church, then Penn State, and next you will be hearing about the massive coverups of abuse going on in the family court system...
Cindy
Family courts routinely dismiss and cover up evidence of abuse. It is outrageous that they would fire a whistleblower rather than try and fix the system so more children will be protected. You are honored for what you did, Emily, and I'm so glad the jury validated you. Now we need jury trials in abuse cases because judges won't protect children. And thanks to KNCO for covering this important topic!
Sassy
This is a problem across the country. I have had Assistant Clerks state outright that it is their job to please the lawyers. They are not there to help the public in any way and they are instructed to block information to the public or to out of town lawyers. And, God forbid you should get a lawyer who has pissed off the judge. You are buried. Clerk's offices are the pit of hell for an honest person.
Malinda
Ms. Gallup, Is what the FL Court System needs. She is brave because anyone who dares to go up against this machine is hurt. If you are a victim of domestic violence stepping foot into a Family Law Court with the idea that you are going to extricate yourself from your batterer by divorce to protect yourself and your children...think twice. If you mention abuse of yourself or your children, custody will be reversed even if your ex had no interest or involvement with the children from birth. Nevertheless, the court will turn children over to batterers at least 50 percent of time and Court appointees will try to persuade you that the fact that they beat the daylights out of you, has no bearing on their ability to parent... Yeah right.. Judges, shared custody with a DV perpetrator places children in danger. Thank you Ms. Gallup for seeing this battle through, could save lives.
Carol
Nice to hear that Emily Gallup got her well deserved win. Just have to mention that the award does not even come close to what she deserved though.
Tammi Lee
That's great that they found she was wrongfully terminated. But will they now do an investigation into the corruption and damage being done to the kids?